Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 27, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 56357 

statute violated the Alaska Constitution. 

The Court’s ruling in McDowell required 

the State to delete the rural preference 

from its subsistence statute and, 

therefore, negated State compliance 

with ANILCA. The Court stayed the 

effect of the decision until July 1, 1990. 

As a result of the McDowell decision, 

the Department of the Interior and the 

Department of Agriculture 

(Departments) assumed, on July 1, 1990, 

responsibility for implementation of 

Title VIII of ANILCA on public lands. 

On June 29, 1990, the Temporary 

Subsistence Management Regulations 

for Public Lands in Alaska were 

published in the Federal Register (55 

FR 27114). 

Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory 

Councils 

Pursuant to the Subsistence 

Management Regulations for Federal 

Public Lands in Alaska, April 6, 1992, 

and the Subsistence Management 

Regulations for Federal Public Lands in 

Alaska, 36 CFR 242.11 (2002) and 50 

CFR 100.11 (2002), and for the purposes 

identified therein, we divided Alaska 

into 10 subsistence resource regions, 

each of which is represented by a 

Federal Subsistence Regional Advisory 

Council (Regional Council). The 

Regional Councils provide a forum for 

residents of the regions, who have 

personal knowledge of local conditions 

and resource requirements, to have a 

meaningful role in the subsistence 

management of fish and wildlife on 

Alaska public lands. The Regional 

Council members represent varied 

geographical, cultural, and user 

diversity within each region. 

Withdrawal of Direct Final Rule 

The Kenai Peninsula has unique fish 

and wildlife management challenges 

due to intense use of the Peninsula’s 

fish and wildlife by local and nonlocal 

residents and by nonresidents, and due 

to the recent Board actions to begin to 

provide a meaningful subsistence 

priority for fisheries in Federally 

managed fresh waters on the Kenai 

Peninsula. Kenai Peninsula lands 

primarily under Federal management 

include the Chugach National Forest 

and the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge. 

We published a direct final rule on 

August 14, 2006 (71 FR 46400), that 

would have created a separate 

subsistence resource region for the 

Kenai Peninsula because we viewed this 

action as an uncontroversial 

administrative action by the Federal 

Subsistence Board. That direct final rule 

would have become effective September 

29, 2006, unless we received significant 

adverse comments. 

During a Southcentral Federal 

Subsistence Regional Advisory Council 

meeting held in Anchorage, Alaska on 

August 24, 2006, we heard significant 

adverse testimony regarding the creation 

of a new Kenai Peninsula Subsistence 

Resource Region. Additionally, the 

Southcentral Regional Council 

unanimously recommended against the 

formation of such a region without 

providing more opportunity for public 

input. Letters from the public also 

strongly opposed the formation of such 

a region without providing more 

opportunity for public input. Therefore, 

we are withdrawing the direct final rule 

and will hold hearings in the affected 

area to obtain additional public input 

before deciding whether to proceed with 

the formation of a new subsistence 

resource region. In addition, on the 

same date that we published the direct 

final rule, we published a proposed rule 

(71 FR 46427) to create an additional 

subsistence resource region for the 

Kenai Peninsula. 

For the reasons stated above, the 

Federal Subsistence Board withdraws 

the direct final rule of August 14, 2006 

(71 FR 46400). 

Dated: September 19, 2006. 

Peter J. Probasco, 

Acting Chair, Federal Subsistence Board. 

Dated: September 19, 2006. 

Steve Kessler, 

Subsistence Program Leader, USDA-Forest 

Service. 

[FR Doc. 06–8276 Filed 9–26–06; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P; 4310–55–P 

NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS 

ADMINISTRATION 

36 CFR Parts 1253 and 1280 

[Docket NARA–06–0007] 

RIN 3095–AB52 

Changes in NARA Research Room 

Hours 

AGENCY: National Archives and Records 

Administration (NARA). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: NARA is further modifying 

the research room hours at its facilities 

in the Washington, DC, area to retain, on 

a monthly basis, Saturday and some 

evening hours. We are taking this action 

in response to the many comments 

received on the interim final rule on this 

subject published in July. As noted in 

the previous rulemaking, NARA is 

reducing the research room hours as one 

of several measures the agency must 

take in Fiscal Year 2007 to ensure that 

our expenditures are in line with our 

expected resources. This regulation will 

affect individuals who use our archival 

research rooms in the National Archives 

Building and National Archives at 

College Park facility. 

DATES: Effective Date: This final rule is 

effective October 2, 2006. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Nancy Allard at 301–837–1477 or 

Jennifer Davis Heaps at 301–837–1801 

or via fax number 301–837–0319. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NARA 

published an interim final rule with 

request for comments on July 25, 2006 

(71 FR 42058). The interim rule 

specified changes to NARA research 

room hours at the National Archives 

Building in Washington, DC, and the 

National Archives at College Park, MD 

and a revision of the public hours for 

visiting the National Archives 

Experience and the Rotunda exhibits in 

the National Archives Building. We 

received more than 530 timely 

comments. In addition, approximately 

70 individuals attended a public 

meeting on the rule on August 3, 2006, 

at which 24 individuals spoke. Virtually 

all of the responsive comments 

concerned the research room hours in 

our DC area facilities. 

In this final rule, we are further 

amending the interim final rule to 

specify that the research room hours at 

the National Archives Building and the 

National Archives at College Park will 

include, one week a month, evening 

hours from 5 p.m. to 8:45 p.m. on 

Thursday and Friday and Saturday 

hours from 8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. This 

rule and the other provisions of the 

interim final rule published at 71 FR 

42058 will go into effect on October 2, 

2006. 

Summary of Public Comments Received 

The total number of comments 

received included submissions made 

through http://www.regulations.gov, 

individual letters that were mailed or 

faxed (or both) to NARA, letters 

forwarded from Congressional offices, 

and two petitions. Comments received 

on or before 11:59 p.m. on September 8, 

2006, and those postmarked on or before 

September 8, were considered timely. 

Because of the time constraints in 

revising the rule before October 2, 2006, 

we were not able to consider late 

comments. 

Many comments expressed 

appreciation for the important role 

NARA plays in providing public access 

to records and offered suggestions for 

ways in which NARA might be able to 

retain some or all extended hours. We 

address the most frequently stated 

suggestions in the next sections of this 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
56358 Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 27, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. A number 

of comments stated a concern that 

eliminating evening and Saturday hours 

would severely restrict the ability of 

certain categories of researchers—

especially students, individuals with 

full-time jobs, and non-local researchers 

with limited time and budget—to use 

the Archives at all. In evaluating the 

various suggested alternatives, we tried 

to consider the needs of all researchers, 

but particularly the needs of those who 

have limited ability to visit the research 

rooms during weekday hours. 

Discussion of Adopted Comments 

A number of commenters 

recommended offering evening and 

Saturday hours one week each month. 

Many commenters stated that they come 

to our DC area facilities to do research 

in short, concentrated visits of less than 

two weeks once or twice a year. Offering 

monthly extended hours on Thursday 

and Friday evening and Saturday would 

provide these users an additional 15 

hours of research time during that week. 

This alternative would also provide 

some relief to users who cannot come 

during the weekday because it would 

give them a non-workday block of time 

each month to review original records. 

We have adopted this alternative in the 

final rule. We recognize that it does not 

address all of the researcher needs 

identified in the comments, but it 

provides the best available balance 

between researcher needs and NARA 

financial constraints. For Fiscal Year 

2007 (October 1, 2006–September 30, 

2007), we will hold the extended hours 

the third Thursday through Saturday of 

the month. This schedule avoids 

conflict with the Veterans Day holiday 

in November 2006 and other Federal 

holidays occurring during the first and 

fourth weeks of other months. The 

schedule of extended hours will be 

published at http://www.archives.gov/ 

research/ and also available in the 

research rooms. 

Other Alternatives Proposed in the 

Comments 

A number of comments argued that 

NARA should make no changes in the 

research room hours, making reductions 

in other areas, if necessary. As noted in 

the preamble above, the reduction in the 

research room hours is only one of 

many areas in which NARA is making 

adjustments to ensure that NARA can 

continue to fulfill its mission as the 

nation’s recordkeeper effectively with 

the resources that will be available to 

us. We are also taking other measures 

that are less visible to the public, such 

as instituting a hiring freeze and a staff 

‘‘buyout’’ earlier this fiscal year, 

additional energy conservation 

measures, and a significant reduction in 

the agency’s FY 2007 travel budget. 

When we issued the interim final rule, 

we did so because we had determined 

that it is not practicable to achieve all 

of the savings we need without any 

reduction in research room hours. This 

situation has not changed. 

Many commenters asked that NARA 

retain Saturday hours once or twice a 

month. In evaluating the various 

alternatives, we determined that 

monthly extended hours on two 

evenings and Saturday would be more 

cost effective and serve more categories 

of researchers than being open two 

Saturdays per month but no evenings. 

A number of commenters 

recommended that we close the research 

rooms on one weekday and stay open on 

Saturdays. While Monday was the day 

most frequently suggested for closing, 

other days of the week were put forth 

too, including a rotating day schedule 

that would include Saturday. 

Commenters suggested that this 

alternative would assist those 

researchers who can only come on 

Saturdays; it might also assist some 

current evening researchers who are 

able to come on Saturday instead. While 

a number of institutions follow a 

Tuesday–Saturday schedule, a 

Tuesday–Saturday or other similar 

schedule would not provide an 

equivalent amount of savings as the 

interim rule proposal for a Monday–

Friday schedule because the facilities 

would have to remain open on Mondays 

for other official business that NARA 

conducts. Thus, NARA would still incur 

facility and security costs for the 

buildings on Mondays. This alternative 

also reduces available hours for our 

large number of weekday researchers, 

including Federal agency researchers. 

Another recommendation was to open 

late (e.g., 1 p.m.–9 p.m., noon–8 p.m., 

11 a.m.–7 p.m., or 10 a.m.–6 p.m.) some 

or all weekdays. The commenters 

suggested that this alternative would 

provide some relief for researchers who 

can only come to the Archives in the 

evening. NARA’s review of this 

alternative found that this would not 

provide significant relief, except to the 

relatively small number of researchers 

(approximately one to two percent) who 

only use the research rooms in the 

evening, and might reduce available 

hours for weekday researchers (over half 

of our current researchers) if they can 

not shift to later hours. The cost for this 

alternative would also be greater than a 

Monday–Friday schedule because of the 

need for facility and security services 

during official business hours and 

additional night-differential pay for staff 

working after 6 p.m. 

Because the number of research visits 

to the larger research complex at the 

National Archives at College Park 

(Archives II) is nearly double the 

number of research visits at the National 

Archives Building, some commenters 

suggested implementing the Monday–

Friday 9 a.m.–5 p.m. schedule at the 

National Archives Building and 

retaining the existing extended hours 

(Tuesday, Thursday, Friday evenings 

and Saturday every week) at Archives II. 

Not only is the cost of this alternative 

significantly more than other 

alternatives considered; the large 

number of genealogical researchers who 

do research at the National Archives 

Building would gain no relief. 

Two other alternatives were suggested 

by several commenters: to use unpaid 

volunteers or interns or to charge a user 

fee to all or non-U.S. researchers. 

Neither alternative is viable. NARA has 

a large cadre of dedicated volunteers 

who greatly assist NARA in carrying out 

its mission. Volunteer opportunities are 

described on our Web site at http:// 

www.archives.gov/careers/ 

volunteering/. Volunteers, however, 

cannot replace NARA staff or security 

guards in providing oversight of our 

research rooms and use of original 

records. NARA does not have statutory 

authority to charge user fees for access 

to our research rooms. 

Other Comments Relating to Research 

Room Hours 

As part of many comments on the 

change in hours, concerns were 

expressed with NARA’s schedule for 

‘‘pulling’’ (i.e., retrieving from the 

stacks) original records under the new 

hours and delays in entering the 

National Archives Building at the start 

of the research day because of security 

procedures. Currently, with the research 

room opening at 8:45 a.m., the first pull 

of the day, when researchers must 

submit their reference requests for 

original records, takes place at 9:30 a.m. 

Commenters were concerned that a 

9 a.m. research room opening would not 

allow sufficient time to prepare the 

reference request before the first pull 

time. Beginning October 2, we are 

adjusting the pull times to 10 and 11 

a.m., and 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. on the days 

that the research complex closes at 5 

p.m.; an additional late day pull will be 

provided when we are open in the 

evening. Changing the morning pulls to 

10 and 11 instead of 9:30 and 10:30 

allows more time for researchers to 

submit their requests for the first pulls 

of the day. The current 3:30 pull time 

will be dropped because records pulled 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 71, No. 187 / Wednesday, September 27, 2006 / Rules and Regulations 56359 

at 3:30 are scheduled to arrive by 4:30, 

allowing only 15 minutes for review 

before records are returned before 

closing time. Our records retrieval 

practices will enable us to accommodate 

requests for records submitted at any 

time prior to the last pull time of the 

day. 

Another concern was expressed with 

the availability of NARA staff for 

researcher consultation. Our experience 

with the Researcher Assistance Room in 

the National Archives Building has 

shown that the most efficient and 

researcher-friendly reference 

consultation is provided in one room. 

Having all finding aids and research 

assistance staff in one location enables 

us to focus our resources so we can 

provide better service to researchers 

and, at the same time, achieve 

efficiencies. Staff assigned to a single 

research consultation room provide 

excellent reference service because they 

have all finding aids available in the 

room and they have no other 

responsibility to distract them from 

helping researchers while they are 

assigned to the room. Researchers 

benefit significantly from having this 

focused service in one location. We will 

modify the Research Assistance Area in 

Room 2000 in the College Park facility 

so that we can provide the same 

efficient service that we provide in the 

National Archives Building. 

Finally, at the public meeting, several 

commenters expressed concern that the 

security procedures for entering the 

National Archives Building were more 

cumbersome and required more time 

than our procedures at College Park, 

also affecting the amount of time 

researchers could spend in the research 

rooms. Immediately following the 

meeting, NARA instituted the same 

inspection procedures used at College 

Park in the National Archives Building. 

This rule is not a significant 

regulatory action for the purposes of 

Executive Order 12866 and has not been 

reviewed by the Office of Management 

and Budget. As required by the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act, I certify that 

this rule will not have a significant 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities because it affects individual 

researchers. This regulation does not 

have any federalism implications. 

List of Subjects 

36 CFR Part 1253 

Archives and records. 

■ For the reasons set forth in the 

preamble, the interim rule published on 

July 25, 2006 (71 FR 42058) amending 

36 CFR parts 1253 and 1280 is 

confirmed as final with the following 

changes: 

PART 1253—LOCATION OF NARA 

FACILITIES AND HOURS OF USE 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1253 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 44 U.S.C. 2104(a). 

■ 2. Amend § 1253.1 by revising 

paragraph (a) to read as follows: 

§ 1253.1 National Archives Building. 

(a) The National Archives Building is 

located at 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, 

NW., Washington, DC 20408. Business 

hours are 8:45 a.m. to 5:15 p.m., 

Monday through Friday, except Federal 

holidays when the building is closed. 

Hours for the Research Center and the 

Central Research room are: 

(1) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays, and 

(2) Once monthly, from 5 p.m. to 8:45 

p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 

8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Saturday. 

Information on these extended hours is 

available at http://www.archives.gov/ 

research/. 

(b) * * * 

(c) * * * 

■ 3. Amend § 1253.2 by revising 

paragraph (b) to read as follows: 

§ 1253.2 National Archives at College Park. 

* * * * * 

(b) Research complex hours are: 

(1) 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through 

Friday, except Federal holidays, and 

(2) Once monthly, from 5 p.m. to 8:45 

p.m. on Thursday and Friday and from 

8:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. on Saturday. 

Information on these extended hours is 

available at http://www.archives.gov/ 

research/. 

* * * * * 

Dated: September 25, 2006. 

Allen Weinstein, 

Archivist of the United States. 

[FR Doc. 06–8338 Filed 9–25–06; 2:07 pm] 

BILLING CODE 7515–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 82 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2005–0087; FRL–8223–4] 

RIN–2060–AM24 

Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: 

Listing of Substitutes for OzoneDepleting Substances—Fire 

Suppression and Explosion Protection 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Direct Final Rule. 

SUMMARY: This action lists four 

substitutes for ozone-depleting 

substances (ODSs) in the fire 

suppression and explosion protection 

sector as acceptable subject to use 

conditions under the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency’s 

(EPA) Significant New Alternatives 

Policy (SNAP) program. SNAP 

implements section 612 of the Clean Air 

Act, as amended in 1990, which 

requires EPA to evaluate substitutes for 

ODSs and find them acceptable where 

they do not pose a greater overall risk 

to human health and the environment 

than other acceptable substitutes. 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

November 27, 2006 without further 

notice, unless EPA receives adverse 

comment or receives a request for a 

public hearing by October 27, 2006. If 

we receive adverse comment or a 

request for a public hearing, we will 

publish a timely withdrawal in the 

Federal Register informing the public 

that all or part of this rule will not take 

effect. 

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a 

public docket for this action under 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2005–

0087. All documents in the docket are 

listed on the www.regulations.gov Web 

site. Although listed in the index, some 

information is not publicly available, 

e.g., CBI or other information whose 

disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Certain other material, such as 

copyrighted material, is not placed on 

the Internet and will be publicly 

available only in hard copy form. 

Publicly available docket materials are 

available either electronically through 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the Air and Radiation Docket, EPA/DC, 

EPA West, Room B102, 1301 

Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, 

DC. The Public Reading Room is open 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Public Reading Room is (202) 566–1744, 

and the telephone number for the Air 

and Radiation Docket is (202) 566–1742. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Bella Maranion, Stratospheric 

Protection Division, Office of 

Atmospheric Programs (6205J), U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 

Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, 

DC 20460; telephone number: (202) 

343–9749; fax number: (202) 343–2363; 

e-mail address: 

maranion.bella@epa.gov. The published 

versions of notices and rulemakings 

under the SNAP program are available 

on EPA’s Stratospheric Ozone Web site 

at http://www.epa.gov/ozone/snap/regs. 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES